To people who think Brendan didn't deserve to win

What movie were you watching? I've read so many reviews written by people who seem to think that Brendan had some sort of perfect life and that he didn't deserve to win nearly as much as Tommy did. What exactly are you basing this off of? It's clearly implied that Brendan always felt that his father favored Tommy over him, and that Brendan never got the kind of attention and devotion from him that Tommy did. Brendan is even more estranged from his father than Tommy is. Also, the man has a wife and two kids who are about to end up with no house despite having three jobs between them. How is that a perfect life? I have nothing at all against Tommy but he joined the army on his own accord. He went AWOL on his own accord. If anything at all, Tommy ditched his "brothers" in the army and now he's getting insane amounts of publicity and a shot at $5,000,000 back in the states (which he honorably pledges to give to the widow of one of his fallen comrades). I sympathize with Tommy but why do so many people seem to believe that we should sympathize more with his character than we should with Brendan? Brendan forgave his brother a long time ago. He didn't feel the ill will towards Tommy that Tommy felt towards him. He wanted to reconcile. Tommy didn't. It took the culminating fight between them and the violence that ensued for Tommy to finally feel that way too.